The F1 was the fastest production car for over a decade. Here is video from the cockpit on March 31, 1998, when the McLaren recorded its highest speed ever.
In the waning days of the F1’s painfully short production, racing driver Andy Wallace took prototype XP5 for a blitz on the 5.6-mile main straight of Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track. This is what he saw:
As designer Gordon Murray has explained many times over the years, the McLaren F1 was never intended to become the fastest production car in the world (unlike the Bugatti Veyron or the current holder of the title, the SSC Ultimate Aero TT). All he aimed to create was the ultimate road car. Through light weight, oceans of naturally aspirated power, and F1-derived aerodynamics, the McLaren F1 became just that.
Incidentally, it also turned out to be pretty fast in a straight line.
Photo Credit: VOD Cars